Russia, including US and its allies on Friday said has hit out over North Korea missile launch, after Pyongyang fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japan.
The ICBM was fired out at about 10:15 a.m. local time from the Sunan region of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and it travelled about 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) east, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and leaders of Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia and New Zealand condemned the launch at an emergency meeting called on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Friday.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Ryabkov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency that while Moscow prefers a diplomatic approach towards the Korean peninsula, “it’s been particularly evident recently that the United States and its allies in the region, prefer a different path.”
North Korea Fires Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
#breaking South Korean military: North Korea is “presumed” to have launched an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) a defense ministry official tells CNN’s @imgawonbae. This is Kim Jong Un’s 34th launch event this year — the most ever. DPRK keeps breaking its own records. pic.twitter.com/rcg0vxSFxU
— Will Ripley (@willripleyCNN) November 18, 2022
The US and its allies denounced North Korea‘s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday as a “brazen violation” of UN resolutions and the country’s second missile test in as many days.
“It’s as if Pyongyang’s patience is being tested,” he was cited as saying.
According to the Japan Coast Guard, it was likely within Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), around 210 kilometres (130 miles) west of the Japanese island of Oshima Oshima, as stated by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Japan was not in its path.
“North Korea is continuing to carry out provocative actions at frequency never seen before,” Kishida told reporters Friday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.
“I want to restate that we cannot accept such actions,” he said.
The Japanese government will continue to collect and analyze information and provide prompt updates to the public, he said. So far, there have been no reports of damage to vessels at sea, Kishida added.
